News 3 reached out to local attorney Eric Leckie and showed him the video. He said, “Sawing off the end of a rifle barrel would probably not destroy it. But if it shortened the barrel to under 16 inches, sawing off the end would make it immediately illegal and it`s a very bad idea,” said Leckie.

“I knew exactly what I was doing. The gun was inoperable before I cut it. And we took it completely apart. And we didn’t put all that on video because I wanted to get the message to the students that I was standing with them,” said Mallard.

So yes, there are serious questions about how Mallard went about destroying this firearm (the authorities are doing their thing on that front, and I guess we’ll all find out the answer at some point). Of course, Mallard’s intent was clearly NOT to create a “sawed-off” firearm, but to destroy her AR-15 and to demonstrate her support for the students in Parkland. Also, it should go without saying that nothing justifies misogynistic or otherwise nasty, ad hominem attacks against Mallard, which you could have viewed in droves on her Facebook page before she apparently took it down (UPDATE: According to Mallard’s campaign, “Karen’s Facebook page is getting so much traffic that we’re unable to access it”). In short, the whole thing’s a mess, even if the candidate’s intentions were well-meaning. Unfortunate.

*************************************

On February 24, VA-02 Democratic candidate Karen Mallardposted video of her cutting apart her family’s AR-15. On Thursday morning, March 7, Mallard tweeted out that “Right Wing Trolls engaged in what appears to be a coordinated effort to overwhelm our campaign’s social media accounts with mean spirited @NRA talking points about the video of myself destroying my family’s AR-15 Assault Rifle.” Good to see Mallard not backing down to these bullies, which of course is exactly their goal – to make the large majority of Americans who support commonsense gun violence prevention measures back down to the small percentage who don’t. Screw that.

Instead of having a reasoned and well thought out debate on how we can #SafeguardOurChildren from mass shootings, these @NRA enthusiasts wanted to claim that the video that I posted showed me breaking the law. #3 #Va02

I’ve been an educator for 30 years and the safety of my students has always been a top priority. I will continue to stand up to the @NRA and their enablers who have no desire to enact common sense #GunReform in our country. #Va02#TeamMallard#SafeguardOurChildren #8